Almost everything lost value in January

There was hardly no escaping the storm that swept across global
financial markets, and the chart below from Deutsche Bank
illustrates that.

The first few days were the worst start to a year ever for
stocks, and January was the weakest month for the Dow and S&P
500 since 2009.

Chinese stocks continued to free fall, and crude oil fell to the
lowest levels in 12 years. And so on.

The only major things that actually didn't fall in January
were the prices of gold, silver, and US Treasury
bonds.

"Welcome to February and if it's anything like January, financial
markets won't be best pleased with having an extra leap day
to contend with by the time the month ends," Deutsche Bank's
Jim Reid wrote to clients on Monday.